¿Qué me cuentas?-Qu’est-ce que tu me raContes?- Anything to tell me?
¿¿Qué me cuentas?- -Qu’est-ce que tu me raContes?- Anything to tell me? is an eTwinning project carried out between two schools in Spain (Zaragoza and Peñíscola) and one from France (Nice). The pupils, aged between 14 and 17, have worked collaboratively, using Spanish and French as vehicular languages and various ICT tools to address the culture of each partner country through traditional stories. It’s a comprehensive project where you can see that communication and collaboration between the partners has been very consistent, and that’s not only reflected in the final products, but in the whole collaboration process and the good working atmosphere transmitted..
Link to the project TwinSpace
Lola Sánchez, teacher of French as a second foreign language at the Alfred Ayza secondary school in Peñíscola (Castellón), tells us her experience and those of her partners in the project:
The main aim of our project was that it had to be 100% collaborative, i.e. our final product required the collaboration of all participating pupils to achieve this. So we decided that the focus of the project would be the story, studied in all its facets: adaptations, inventing stories, collections of traditional stories, etc.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr1Ou8W1ZVE[/youtube]
In the end we can say that we fully achieved our aims, since as well as creating two collaborative stories, one in French and one in Spanish, pupils have shown great creativity in inventing, interpreting or adapting other stories. We did all the collaborative work with Google Drive Docs, an essential tool for this type of project where pupils worked in mixed international groups.
It was a different way of learning a foreign language, putting what’s learned in class in a real context, working side by side with others, making decisions, being part of the group and feeling like European citizens. We were also able to meet our partners personally through the exchange, which has enabled us to strengthen those ties of friendship already forged through ICT.
Pupils also participated enthusiastically in the other proposed activities, being involved in videos, comic books, theatre, etc.
Participation in an eTwinning project brings numerous benefits for the entire educational community; for pupils the main benefit is the motivation, they feel the main characters of their own learning, they open their minds to new cultures and make friends whilst learning implicitly. For the teacher, besides having the satisfaction of seeing pupils learning and enjoying what they’re doing, they also feel both personal and professional enrichment, sharing their teaching experience and learning from others, and of course, improving notably in the use of ICT. Finally, the school opens up to new teaching practices, to teaching innovation and many colleagues who didn’t know about the platform before become interested in it and even start their own eTwinning adventures.
All the projects carried out will help us in new future projects, either adapting or reusing activities in our classes and, of course, serving as a model for other teachers to create their own projects.
For me personally, this recognition has been very rewarding, a reward for many hours of effort and dedication, and motivates me to keep working on new eTwinning projects.
Lola Sánchez, teacher of French as a second foreign language at the Alfred Ayza secondary school in Peñíscola (Castellón)
Below I’ve included the opinions of my project partners:
“This project’s enabled us to make further progress in the field of eTwinning projects as we were able to fulfil the main requirements: inducing maximum collaboration between pupils from different countries to communicate with each other by performing common tasks, and so they get to know each other better, comparing their way of thinking and working with others, developing a way to be more open, tolerant and flexible. We also achieved a cultural aim by discovering both the universal dimension of the stories and the expression of regional and national particularities. In addition, this project allowed pupils to give free rein to their imagination and creativity and to acquire a better grasp of numerical tools within the school setting. The balance was therefore very positive for everyone as it allowed us to improve in many individual aspects as academics“.
Valérie Poussigue, teacher of Spanish as a foreign language at the H. d’Estienne d’Orves secondary school in Nice, France.
“I have little to add to what my project partners have already said. It really has been a unique opportunity to continue learning together in collaboration. It’s left a very good impression that makes us want to continue on collaborative work and projects. Enriching for pupils and teachers. A thoroughly recommended experience for all education professionals“.
M.Teresa Martín, teacher of French as a foreign language at San Valero secondary school in Zaragoza.
And finally, the opinion of a pupil:
“Projects like this don’t cease to amaze you every day. Whenever you go to class, it’s a new world, because you don’t know what you’ll do that day. You meet people, create friendships and links, you don’t know what’s in store in the future, but who’s to say I won’t work abroad … We also learn another way of working and using new technologies, but I think the most important thing is the new vocabulary you learn. You usually learn formal words in class, but through the conversations you have with French partners in this case you learn colloquial vocabulary, which is what you really use when you go to France, both on holiday or to live. The collaborative work is a bit hard at first, because you’re not too used to it, but you soon pick it up. The real problem I had was in using the technology, because that’s not really my strong point, but with some effort, I’m getting better every day (lol). The view you have of Europe totally changes because you don’t feel so scared when starting out on new adventures abroad. Thanks to platforms, like eTwinning in this case, Europe becomes such a familiar continent that it seems like you’re still at home”.
Victoria Debernardi, 1st year High School student at Alfred Ayza Secondary School
eTwinning Awards 2015
